Navajo to debate Grand Canyon Escalade

A panel of the Navajo Nation Council may act on the Grand Canyon Escalade Bill today.

The committee is scheduled to meet 1 p.m. at Department of Dine Education Auditorium in Window Rock. It’s the fifth time the bill is on the agenda of the council’s Naabik’iyati’ committee, the last group that debates the legislation before the Navajo Nation Council considers it.

The council’s summer session begins July 17.

The bill, which proposes to develop Grand Canyon Eastern rim on Navajo land, seeks $65 million from the nation to pay for infrastructure. It includes a tram that takes tourists from the canyon rim to the canyon floor, where the Colorado and Little Colorado Rivers meet.

Navajo Councilman Ben Bennett sponsored the bill, and he has put the legislation on Naabik’iyati’s agenda five times since February. Bennett could pull the bill off the agenda, a pattern, which occurred before and Escalade opponents noticed.

Tuba City resident Rita Bilagody wrote a letter to the Navajo Times about the delays and other Escalade issues. Read the full version at, navajotimes.com under opinion/letters.